Farmers see future in value-adding
A COMMUNITY enterprise of mango growers in Udon Thani is pursuing a value-adding strategy with plans to spend Bt5 million on a processing operation in the hope of doubling its sales next year.
"Up to 60 per cent of our mangoes are not of sufficient quality for export, so we have to find a way to add value to them by turning them into jam, dried fruit and ice cream," said Phuchit Ountheaw, head of the Mango Lover Community Enterprise. "By doing this, we can boost our sales by more than what we make from the fresh fruit."
Phuchit, 40, said the community was established in June 2015 by 45 mango farmers who saw the opportunity for higher prices by direct sales of their produce, instead of relying on traders.
"I have 21 rai of land to grow mangoes," Phuchit said. "I also have a small shop selling fertiliser for growing out-of-season mangoes, which get higher prices than mangoes in season because of lower supply and strong demand.
"When I met Surachai Sridong, who is a farmer and also a staff member of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), he suggested to me that we set up the group to contract with exporters directly and also develop a better way to grow mangoes to serve export demand."
This helps farmers to earn higher incomes and improve their quality of life, he said.
"We can sell our fresh mangoes that meet export standards on quality at a price of Bt125 per kilogram," Phuchit said.
"That is better than how it was before when we sold our products to traders who offered only Bt70 per kilogram."
With the initial success from contracting directly with exporters to ship its products to China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, the community enterprise has opened up applications for more farmers to join. Last year it grew to 132 members who generated sales of Bt10 million.
Then the group had to study what to do with the 60 per cent of mangoes that fell below export standards, because when the group sells mangoes in the domestic market it gets only Bt25 a kilogram.
"Chinese exporters asked if they could buy dried mango for Bt1,000 per kilogram. That challenged us to process our products to become value-added fruit," Phuchit said.
The community enterprise received Bt3 million from Udon Thani province to set up the processing operation.
It will meet to consider applying for a Bt5 million loan from BAAC or the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand to buy the equipment needed to process the mangoes.
"If our members agree to expand our investment, the group will start producing dried mangoes, ice cream and jam by the end of this year and will begin exporting next year," Phuchit said.
